Our users are connected to the main network's router via a switch. We would like to give some people access to a Road Runner connection at the switch level. We want to have a broadband router plugged into the switch that controls traffic to the internet. Is this a good solution? Will the users be able to access the main network and the internet at the same time? If not, how can this happen?

That is the correct way to do this.. Beware though, that once you allow connections internally, that anyone with access to your network will be able to browse... If you are allowing users who are not members of your domain to access the internet through your connections, be sure to secure your servers.. In other words, your security permissions should be set for Authenticated users instead of the default 'Everyone' group...

that depends... If you are running a Domain setup with W2K or better, then you can use GPO's to prohibit your clients from accessing the internet, if that is what you are referring to here...

Once you setup a user/client computer and patch them into the network, as long as they have an ip address in the subnet, they will be able to access any of the resources that you give them permission to access...

but to tell you the truth, I am not really sure what you are asking us... :)

Let me give a bit more detail. We have two buildings in our company. Building A has the network servers and main router. Bldg A also maintains an internet router and firewall. Bldg B, across the street where I am, connects to bldg A's router via our switch. Our 50+ employees terminate at the switch to access email and internet from bldg A as well as our own file and application servers. We would like to setup our own internet connection that connects to our switch so our users can access it while keeping it hidden from bldg A.

How can this be done? We have road runner and a broadband router. How do I connect this router to our switch and enable our users to go through it for the roadrunner internet while still having access to our network, which includes our servers and bldg A's servers?

Okay, now I am getting the picture.. Much more complicated than I originally thought.. How you set this up will depend on your network (subnetting) structure...

Is your network segmented..?? In other words, are your buildings on two separate subnets..??

Where are your DC's located (servers you authenticate to when logging in).. and are they in the same subnet (your buildings Ip address scheme), or in Bldg A on the other side of the router..??

BTW: how are your 2 building connected (switch to router)..?? If these are 2 separate buildings, I hope they are connected with fiber. if it is copper, you might want to reconsider your infrastructure... Deviations in grounding cause potential differences (electrical) which can severely damage your hardware...

Bldg B connects to Bldg A through 10Mbps fiber. Should be 100, but I digress.

Bldg B has an NT File Server that Bldg B users authenticate with, but it's a workgroup, not a DC. I think it was setup this way because we're attached directly to Bldg A's network router via our switch. (We would probably have a DC if we had our own router, I digress again.) Bldg B users connect to Bldg A Email and Internet through the subnet off Bldg A's router. Bldg A users are on a different subnet and a different port, but on the same router. See below for more Poor Man's Visio:

Your diagram is correct. The GW1 is x.x.x.1 and GW is x.x.x.4. On the win98 mahcine I have .4 first then .1 and no go. However, this works fine on XP. Also, there is no address filter on the router (GW2). We are using DNS, but this is the same regardless of client OS. Would this cause a problem? Finally, we have NOT edited any hosts file. Since XP worked without this, we didn't do it on 98.

If you are using DNS internally, then you should not need to edit the host file. So, you are saying (to make sure I have this right) that your 98 boxes cannot get out on the internet, but can access resources in Bldg A subnet..?

Have you made sure that your 98 boxes can see the internet router ... By pinging Gateway 2 (x.x.x.4)

I am also going to throw this out to some of my techs to see if they can come up with any ideas. It has been 2 years since I had to deal with a pre-2K system, and I am a little more than rusty on these...

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